Oh… my… goodness. And now we know why everyone who has read the manga is crying out PRAISE THE SUN. But before we get into that, I’d like to put some spotlight on my girl, Jericho. She literally continued going with both Ban and Elaine on her back and even started SPRINTING when Galland started hitting boulders at them. Not to mention, SHE TOOK A FREAKING BOULDER TO THE FACE to protect Ban and Elaine. She went above and beyond trying to protect Ban and Elaine and you could see the physical strain she pushed herself through to make it so they could escape and no one was left behind. This was definitely the moment where I just put my hands down and said: Jericho is best girl. After this, I would probably rank her as my favorite female of the series. (Sorry Diane..) Even near the end of the episode, Jericho tries to cheer Elaine up and the little fairy even exclaims that she loves her. Which means A LOT considering Elaine didn’t trust any human besides Ban and always had a pretty bad perspective of them.
After Jericho manages, with a little help from Elaine, to get them into a cave to try and hide, they come across a… peculiar man. At first glance he seems rather pathetic if not somewhat endearing with his meak presence. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Galand and Melascula actually have a fun relationship and they seem to get along way more than they care to admit. Their little bonding over getting drunk together was pretty funny and the fact that alcohol is the one thing that has gotten better over time is also hilarious. It was fun to see the funny side of these two since… 9/10 of the time is them being terrifying. Maybe it was mood whiplash, but I think it needed some levity, especially over what transpired last episode with all the feels and emotional stress. Can I also say that Galand’s voice actor is just 10/10 and absolutely perfect for the character? His way of speaking is just so much fun that I look forward to his performances.
I do really like the transition from the silly nature to: YEAH, WE KNOW YOU’RE HIDING THEM IN THAT FOOD CELLAR. That sent shivers down my spine because it was a reminder that: YES, these creatures are more than capable of destroying you if they ever so wanted to with hardly any effort. I laughed pretty hard when Galand challenged the bartender to a game and the bartender gave a squeak of agreement before getting THRASHED by a pat on the back. The comedic timing in that was priceless. How nice of them to wait ALL NIGHT to see if the bartender would get back up. They must really have been in a good mood to wait that long instead of just proceeding to kill Jericho and the others hiding or something lol.
I have to say that the fact that Galand couldn’t even LIFT that battle axe already says something. The guy can crush mountains, but he couldn’t lift the axe. And then… the moment EVERYONE and their grandmothers have been waiting for… the final sin of Pride had finally made his entrance and man was it GLORIOUS. If you thought you’d known what OP was in this series, you’d probably have to take a step back because Escanor just threw that bar to the sun. Escanor is a total BEAST and his boasting does not come unwarranted. The only part of criticism I can say is how Escanor’s first strike against Galand in the manga had so much more impact than in the episode. In the manga, you can see Galand’s body still upright even after he’d been cut in two, but it went by way too fast in the anime. However, the moment was still awesome as heck! Melascula’s expression is also 10/10. It just screams how shocked and TERRIFIED she was.
It’s also pretty ironic how Melascula and Galand are berating Escanor of his arrogance and pride despite how much they have as well. And boy did Escanor turn their words back on them and put them in their place by just OBLITERATING them a moment later. Even when Galand turned into his Critical Over form and hit Escanor with all that he had, obliterating the rest of the mountain AND a couple nearby, he only succeeded in giving him only a mere flesh wound. And thus the true irony of the episode was Galland going back on his word to finish the game and attempting to run away before Escanor could hit him again. And like Escanor said, “not even teh master of the law itself cannot escape its punishment if it’s broken.” It was anticlimactic but yet so ironically satisfying at the same time by how Galand was defeated. The prideful and arrogant demon was beaten by going back on his words.
But Galand’s defeat was pretty tame compared to what happened to Melascula. Even with his soul extracted from his body, Escanor’s soul was so powerful that he BURNED her from the inside out. Prooobably one of the worst ways to go if you ask me. Even Ban wouldn’t have been able to escape with his soul being eaten. Escanor is just that much of a BEAST. Which brings up a lot of questions of what exactly is Escanor. He claims he’s only human but… to what extent? Probably won’t be answered this season so lets put a pin in that thought for now. The only thing we are made aware of Escanor is how freaking OP he gets depending on how high the sun is during the day. This series just loves it’s OP characters. To think that at the start of the series, Galand was absolutely destroying Meliodas’ group only to be topped off by one man. Escanor took TWO commandments down by himself. I can’t even… if that’s not overwhelming strength, I don’t know what is.
No wonder everyone was so hyped for Escanor. He’s a freaking BEAST. I’m so glad that this moment was given a full episode to properly introduce Escanor and just give us a demonstration of only a smidge of his abilities. Also, the reunion between King and Elaine… FINALLY THE REACTION FROM HER I WAS LOOKING FOR. It was so touching to see how happy Elaine was to see King. Compared to their first reunion, this one was SO MUCH BETTER and satisfying. YES. PLEASE GIVE KING MORE HAPPINESS. THE POOR BOY DESERVES IT. (Even if I’m still mad at him for how he’s treating Meliodas… but I digress)
And… oh hey, Diane! Long time no see! We haven’t seen her in so long. Here’s hoping she gets to meet up with the others soon because it has been WAY TOO LONG.
